Indiana on the Fly is Indiana's only Fly Fishing show and is coming up on Saturday January 7th. The show is supported by the fly fishing community of Indiana and surrounding states like Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. It is an excellent opportunity to come and visit the two local fly fishing only outfitters WCO and Orvis and also visit with some of the other outstanding professionals from both Indiana and the Midwest. As a fly fishing outfitter we feel strongly about the show and it's continued success. We also feel it is important to continue to improve the selection of gear we bring to the show each year. This year we are really ramping up for the show and bringing more rods, reels, fly lines, gadgets, waders, boots, kayaks and fly fishing lifestyle gear to the show.

So come down on the 7th at the Indiana State Fairgrounds and enjoy the day. It is for you and it would be a shame to miss all the fun. Come by our huge booth and enter to win a FREE FLOAT TRIP down Sugar Creek with Chad J. Miller.

For many years those who come into Wildcat Creek Outfitters know Eric Corya, also known as Carp Man. He has passed down his skills to his underling Mike Exl. Mike has now progressed into a full-fledged Carp expert; catching several hundred a year.

Now Eric has ascended to another plane; one in which we have only heard of but thought was urban legend. He has become a Carp Ninja! That’s right you heard me; Carp Ninja. Ascending to the level of a Carp Ninja is something that has not happened in hundreds of years and from our understanding it has never happened in this part of the world.

This revelation came one afternoon as Mike and Eric where fishing. Mike hustled down the bank to the water thinking he would get to the fish before Eric. Eric was up by the truck putting his gear together. Mike waded in and to his astonishment Eric simply materialized across the creek from him within casting distance of the pod of fish Mike was getting ready to wade to. For Carp Ninja’s there is no need for wading it only scares fish. So they have the unique ability to materialize where needed.  Eric won’t talk openly about it so don’t bring it up, not sure what happens if you do. Freaks me out man!

Talk about freaky! Imagine fishing a place where you might seem alone and out of nowhere appears Eric “Carp Ninja” Corya downstream standing in the water; not a ripple! He of course would never crowd you he is way to kind of a ninja to do that. He only uses his powers for good. Of course he would crowd Mike Exl in a second; the master must keep the apprentice in his proper place. We are a little worried though; if Eric now has these powers will Mike eventually get them as well. Let’s hope Mike will use his Carp Ninja skills for good and not evil! I think he will use his powers for good. As Mike likes to say there is a Carp at the end of every Rainbow.

We had a tremendous trip to Montana this past week. The fishing was good as usual and of course all of our wine connoisseur/fly fishing guests had a tremendous time catching big trout and interacting with the people from Gallo. We have added a few pictures here to show the good time had by all and some of the beautiful trout caught from the Jefferson, Beaverhead, Big Hole and McCoy's Spring Creek.

As you can see we had a full house this year and plan on doing something similar next year. If you are interested in having a wine week for a large corporate group; entertaining your best customers, give WCO Travel a call and we can arrange this for you and your customers. We can easily handle up to 24 people. If you need any more info let us know, enjoy the pictures!

Jim Daugherty

Big northern pike on big Finnish raccoon flies, walleyes on the surface on small minnow imitations and dry flies, and beautiful orange-bellied brook trout with sinking fly lines and cone-headed muddlers and wooly buggers. That was Bolton Lake and God's River June 22-25, 2011.

Bolton Lake Lodge in northern Manitoba, Canada, is a family business that does things right. From the coffee delivered at 6:00 am each day to the great dinner meals, Trevor and Jodie do a great job. The cabins are clean and very comfortable. The fishing guides are knowledgeable and very helpful. Their shore lunches are over the top. If you are hungry after shore lunch, it is your own fault. It's on my annual “place to return to” list.

The northern pike seemed to be in a transition phase from the shallow bays to deeper water. They were caught in the shallow reef areas where the wind was blowing in on that area, as well as in the main lake “cabbage patch” weed beds. Red/white and Chartreuse/orange seemed to be the most productive colors of the finn raccoon flies. Mike and Marc hooked up with trophies of 42 inch and 41 inch pike, respectively. I managed a 39 inch and about 30 others on one red/white raccoon fly. It was retired at the end of the day, mangled and with both eyes missing, to an honorable spot on my fly tying bench.

The walleye were plentiful to say the least. The first thing each day was to catch our walleyes for shore lunch. That took about 10 minutes, then we were looking for the big `eyes. White/chartreuse clousers, white minnow imitations (white bass flies in Indiana), and Whitlock's near `nuff crawdad were all winning flies for the deeper water approach. There were a couple of spots on the lake where the walleyes were feeding on the surface. There was a very small white fly of some type hatching and the walleye didn't just sip them in like trout, they came sometimes completely out of the water to feed. When they were “porpoising” like that, Marc was able to catch some on dries and surface lures. These porpoising walleyes were not the small fish either. They were 23 to 26 inches. Marc watched a 29 inch caught by the float plane pilot.

The water conditions of God's River were quite different this year compared to 2010. Last year we fished on the rocks or on shore most of the day. This year the water was higher by 4 to 5 feet and there were no rocks or shoreline. The water was rocking and rolling. Our groups fished the river two days. The water conditions did not change between the days, but the fishing certainly did. The first day the brookies were in the slower, “softer” water, the gentle flow, and behind rock piles. The second day they were in the fastest water, the big rapids, and on the edges of the swiftest water. Of the 42 brook trout we caught, 19 were over 20 inches and several were 22 inches. Besides the beautiful colors, brookies are a tremendous fighting fish. The orange belly, the silver spots with red dots, the golden spots, the fighting spirit….how can you not love the brook trout? God's River is the perfect spot for them to live.

Wow Wow Wow!!! Yet again another ridiculously good trip to Bolton Lake Lodge in Manitoba Canada. The guys are just back and we are blown away by both the numbers and size of the fish caught. Our good friend Jim Daugherty is going to write a customer report  for us on the trip and we are just now getting all the pictures together. This is without a doubt the best fish catching trip we do anywhere in the world. Imagine getting tired of catching 22 to 27 inch Walleye, 23 inch Brook Trout aren't a dream but reality to often to mention, Pike as long as your leg with 40 inchers expected. We feel extremely fortunate to have the relationship with Bolton Lake they are terrific people and run a wonderful lodge. We will again be going  late June in 2012 and we already have spots filled by repeat customers. Look for Marc's report in the next couple of days and Jim's customer review of the trip.

WCO travel has a few more spots available for a couple of more trips still in 2011. Our Five Rivers Lodge/Gallo of Sonoma trip August 23rd-28th has a few additional spots that have opened up. Also on our Alaska trip to King Salmon/Nushagak we can add more boats for the trip. We also have a terrific Tarpon trip in September in San Felipe Mexico. Stay tuned to new dates for new trips for 2012 as well.

2011 Trips

We have booked a majority of our travel full this year but have been able to open up more spots on a few trips. Here is a list of trip still on the books with a few openings here and there.

Bolton Lake Brook Trout/Pike/Walleye June 21st-26th (1 spot)

Alaska 8 day float trip Nushagak River July 24th-31st - Full but can open up one more boat (2 spots if needed)

Grand Bahama Bonefish Trip June 23rd-28th 3 Days flats fishing - (3 spots open)

Montana Five Rivers Lodge/Gallo of Sonoma Wine Week 10 spots full but can open up more spots if needed

Tarpon Cay Lodge Mexico September 14th-19th (5 spots open)

Arkansas White River/Norfork TBA probably in October or November (8 spots open)

2012 Trips

Cinco Rios Chile January 28th-February 4th 4 spots booked (8 spots open)

Marc and I had the opportunity to go over to the Detroit River and run our new jet boat. We had lots of rain there just like you all have experienced here. The first night we did not get out but had a nice dinner with long time friends Brian Meszaros and Jerry Darkes on Wednesday. Thursday we were able to get out but the water was pretty messed up. We did get some Whities but not like Brian had the day before with clients. Brian caught about 400 White Bass on Wednesday before the rain came. We caught a few, not like Brian, but did manage a really fat beat up Carp that ate a Clouser Minnow, probably love wounds according to Mike Exl. If you are interested in going over to fish with Brian on The Detroit or up on Lake St. Claire we are working out an all inclusive package that will take all the work out of organizing the trip. Brian is a first class guy and the fishing is on that level as well. More on the Detroit R/L St. Claire Package soon!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0loXDhUgWU&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9OugkCcDSY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few years ago good friend Kirk Deeter and Tim Romano of Field and Stream did some reel tests on everything from Abel reels to Hatch reels and everything in between. Most of the videos have been downloaded on to YouTube and we were just watching them again to refresh our memory. Pretty interesting results from some popular reels. G0 to www.youtube.com/user/fieldandstreamdotcom#p/u/21/R3Q5o9Fb77Y for the rest of the test. There are lots of downloads from other things but if you go down a little you will find in succession most of the reels they tested. There are a few models that no longer exist but there are plenty that do. It was interesting to see how well Hatch and Nautilus did in these tests.

The Whities are in Eagle Creek



Contrary to popular belief, the White Bass run is not over! Floating in a kayak on Eagle Creek on Wednesday provided a very fruitful day. I Fished for a few hours with quite a mix of fish being caught. All in all five different species were caught including 2 catfish, mulitple Smallmouth and a bunch of White Bass. White Bass tended to be in the usual places, deep, slow moving pockets of water and hitting the usual flies, any thing in any color as long as it is white. Working the fly fast worked best for me. Oh yea there are a bunch of Crappies that have come in also, some of them pretty good size.

If you need more info give us a call 317-733-3014 or email Marc at marc@wildcatcreekoutfitters.com